Matthieu Carlin x Eric Charles-Donatien: a pastry chef, a feather worker, a collab
There's nothing to suggest that a pastry chef and a designer-plumbers would ever meet. And yet! When Matthieu Carlin met Éric Charles-Donatien, the collaboration became a matter of course!
Two professions that seem to have nothing in common! Matthieu Carlin, head pastry chef at the Hôtel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel, and Éric Charles-Donatien, designer-plumassier, share the same attention to material and detail. Both are dedicated to creating magic. Both stimulate our senses and work together to imagine an extraordinary Easter creation.
Why a collaboration between a feather worker and a pastry chef? Where did the idea come from?
Matthieu Carlin: It was a very natural collaboration. Éric has had a strong link with the hotel since its renovation. When we met around the theme of Easter, our two worlds immediately converged. Each of his works has a story, like the one you can tell around a dish or dessert. And what better way to evoke the renewal of Easter than with a pen?
Éric Charles-Donatien: I'm an incredible gourmand. When Matthieu asked me to think about an Easter egg, I was hooked. Matthieu works with and loves textures, so I thought broadly about what our egg could be. After Chimère, created to adorn the alcove of the hotel's hairdressing salon, imagining an Easter creation that would fit into the world of Le Crillon was an obvious choice.
How did you make the link between your two professions?
MC: We both work with materials with the utmost precision. Our creations strive to respect the material, while imagining the interplay of textures and structures. In this respect, our two professions, though far apart, are very similar. By imagining ovoid chocolate bars for the structure of the egg, my craft became part of Éric's work. For the playful side, I combined dark and milk chocolate, so that everyone could enjoy them.
ECD: For this first collaboration with a pastry chef, I brought into play my very strong relationship with the culinary arts. I like rigor, respect for materials, colors, textures, nature and respect for nature. In our business, you can't cheat. I proposed an egg that breaks down into ovoid tablets in an architectural assembly. The egg becomes an artistic experience.
How did you come to work together?
MC: I went to discover Éric's studio. Our starting point was the idea of the feather, its elegance and lightness, to imagine the egg. During our discussions, Éric reminded me of Fabergé's elaborate eggs, but also of the surprise eggs that children love. There's something playful and magical about eggs. Our openwork Easter egg was born out of this great discrepancy. A play of light reveals the surprise, the hotel's vintage DS, which the customer can keep once the egg is finished.
ECD: I'm looking to use manual labor to bring meaning and reflection beyond know-how. So I imagined an egg that would enchant, astonish and surprise, an experience that would be both simple and crazy at the same time. I thought about the typology of the object in terms of what the Crillon represents for me. It had to be ornamental. We didn't invent anything, we just composed The little car is numbered, reminiscent of childhood, and introduces a playful side to the creation.
What will you take away from this feather-based creation?
MC: The feather engraved in the chocolate brings an incredible lightness to the whole, a feather designed by Éric that extends into the chocolate, surrounds it, protects it, taking on the primary function it has in nature.
ECD: In my work with feathers, there's a notion of dimensionality. Depending on the movement, you can quickly go from 2D to 3D. It's a kinetic egg in section, offering the possibility of two visions. From the front, the egg appears full, while from the side, it's structural. I've drawn an interpretation of the feather and its structure, an organic element that everyone can interpret in their own way.
Are the collaborations continuing?
MC: This is my second at the Crillon. Collaborations allow you to go where you wouldn't go alone. They open you up to other worlds, and push back the limits of creation. They're not systematic, but they're always very enriching.
ECD: In recent years, we've focused a lot on know-how, but not on the meaning of our creations. Over time, I've come to think differently. In a collaboration, we try to give meaning to the creation by immersing ourselves in the other's universe.
